Hungarian Victory in Women’s Pentathlon at This Year’s First World Cup

Michelle Gulyás won the first World Cup pentathlon competition in Cairo on Saturday, reported Index. In the afternoon, the Hungarian men finished in the top half of the field with Csaba Bőhm in fifth, Balázs Szép in seventh, and Richárd Bereczki in ninth place.

Saturday’s final was started from the front by Olympic qualifier Gulyás, who was also the best at the World Cup in Egypt last year. She had one penalty in the equestrian event, won her fencing-bout in the bonus round, and finished fourth in the 200m swim. She was in the lead throughout and started the combined event in first place.

In the 5x600m run, which was interrupted by four shootings, no one threatened her victory, she ran well, finishing eight seconds ahead of Kim Sun-woo of South Korea.

The Hungarian pentathlete’s 11th best time of 11:45.90 in the combined event was enough to maintain her leading position without any particular difficulty.

Third place went to Great Britain’s Kerenza Bryson.

Michelle Gulyás said after the race that as it is much warmer in Cairo than in Hungary, it was difficult to run well and she tried to concentrate on her shooting to maintain her lead and not to focus so much on her running. She noted that it might have looked like an easy race from the outside, but it was actually very difficult. “I was happy with the ride. (…) I had to pay a lot of attention to technique to get the right rhythm over the obstacles. My running improved a lot during the training camp in Kenya this winter, last year I was quite weak in the physical numbers, so I am happy that I have improved,” she emphasized. She concluded by saying that she is not yet in the form of her life, but that the most important races will come later and she feels she is on the right track.

The World Cup series will continue in Ankara, Türkiye in April, followed by a competition in Budapest at the end of next month, followed by a round in Sofia in May and the final in the same month, also in Ankara.

After the World Cup in June, the European Championships will be held in Budapest during the second week of July, before the Olympics but after the qualification period.

Olympic quotas will be awarded directly at this year’s World Cup, with the men’s and women’s fields being filled from the ranking list by the international federation. From this point of view, valuable world cup places are important.

Via Index; Featured image via Facebook/Michelle Gulyas